The Obama administration plans to nominate a top White House Middle East advisor to be the next U.S. envoy to Israel, POLITICO has learned.

President Barack Obama intends to nominate one of his most trusted Middle East aides, the National Security Council’s Senior Director for the Middle East and North Africa Dan Shapiro, to be his ambassador to Israel, administration officials said.

Shapiro has earned Obama's trust as a Middle East and Jewish outreach advisor going back to the campaign, and one who uniquely seems to get along well with everyone. Shapiro has worked closely with all the key inter-agency players including National Security Advisor Tom Donilon, Deputy National Security Advisor Denis McDonough, the NSC’s top Iran and regional strategist Dennis Ross, as well as Middle East peace envoy George Mitchell, and has a good rapport with Congress, where he previously served as a staffer. Shapiro also has good ties with the Jewish community, having served as a key White House point of contact for the Jewish community, and helped head up Jewish outreach for the Obama campaign.

Shapiro, who speaks fluent Hebrew and some Arabic, also has a good relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his advisors, has wide contacts in Israel and the region, and has accompanied Mitchell on countless shuttle diplomacy trips to the region.

While one former U.S. Middle East hand wondered if there might be quiet grumbling that career Foreign Service diplomats were being passed over in favor of a political appointee for the key post, an official noted that sort of critique was usually leveled at donors, and that tapping a policy veteran and regional expert with such close ties to the President would be seen as an elevation of the post.

Jewish community leaders expressed strong support for the expected appointment.

"This makes so much sense from both a political and policy perspective," said the National Jewish Democratic Council's David A. Harris, who happens to have been Shapiro's freshman year college roommate at Washington University, before Shapiro transferred to Brandeis. "Dan has the policy chops to do this job supremely well and the political know how and confidence of the entire Jewish community."

"Dan Shapiro is an excellent choice to be the next US Ambassador to Israel," said William Daroff, vice president and Washington director of the Jewish Federations of North America, stressing that he can't confirm the appointment. "He is someone who knows Israel very well, has deep roots in the American Jewish community, and has developed a very close working relationship with the prinicpal players in the region. He also has literally been engaged in every aspect of the Obama Administration's Middle East policy since before the President took the Oath of Office. His personal relationship with the President, the Secretary of State, Special Envoy George Mitchell, and Dennis Ross are such that he has great bonafides to represent the United States in Israel."

"Dan Shapiro is a first rate public servant, has the confidence of the President - which he earned over the course of the 2008 campaign, and the respect of the American Jewish and pro-Israel community to whom he has been open and accesssible and an honest broker for years," said the Orthodox Union's Nathan Diament. "Should he be nominated as the U.S. ambassador to Israel, he will be able to deepen the ties between these nations and peoples even further. Additionally, for all his hard work these past few years, he deserves a posting to an embassy located on a lovely Mediterranean beach."

Shapiro, 41, did not respond to a query from POLITICO on his expected nomination.

Diplomatic rotations typically occur every three years over the summer and Shapiro’s nomination is expected to be announced shortly. It couldn't yet be learned what outgoing U.S. Amb. to Israel James Cunningham's next assignment will be. Also due to rotate this summer, U.S. Amb. to Egypt Margaret Scobey. Officials previously suggested that the former U.S. Consul General in Jerusalem Jake Walles would likely be nominated to be the next U.S. envoy to Jordan. Former senior Middle East hands said the recent Egypt and regional turmoil has seemingly slowed down the normal new year notification of several expected regional diplomatic postings due to take place this summer.

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I used to sit about 5 feet from Dan's office when we worked for Senator Bill Nelson. I didn't work closely with him, but I can say that he always seemed to be a nice guy, even though he was the Legislative Director and I was doing data entry.

There is no foreign policy "analysis." U.S. policy is a crock purely directed towards domestic politics. Absolutely no strategic thinking. Especially under this inexperienced and disastrous Obama. His NSC head is a political hack. Denis Mcdonough is also a political hack with no foreign policy experience. His response from Iran to Egypt to Libya to his veto at the UNSC over Israel is disastrous for U.S. policy. Best case in Egypt we get a democracy that is going to change its foreign policy because the people of that country are clearly anti-American and very much against Israel. (Seeing American policy over the years it is not hard to see why). In Libya we could be looking at a mini terrorist state, with jihadist allowed free reign to plot attacks. Yemen could get worse. Bahrain has the potential to shift the political balance more towards Iran. But this inept leadership is not interested in long term U.S. interests. It is worried about getting reelected. Why else would most all of the entire foreign policy establishment be filled with political hacks?????

Posted By: There is no foreign policy "analysis." U.S. policy is a crock purely directed towards domestic poli | February 22, 2011 at 02:18 PM

Mr. Shapiro is certainly more than well qualified. I understand why American Jewish groups and Israelis will offer much adulation for the appointment. Nonetheless, those who believe that the President has mistakenly (NOT! maliciously) focused on settlements as the be-all and end-all of the conflict, should be disappointed, though not surprised. Given Mr. Shapiro's prominent position, he likely also shares the view that a moratorium on all settlement activity (including that in Jerusalem.is the key which will unlock the current impasse. (Indeed, Sen. Feinstein, for whom he served, has echoed that position since at least 2009.) Israelis and American supporters of Israel may also be concerned that Mr. Shapiro was responsible for or supports the Administration position rejecting the view that any effect be given the April 14, 2004 exchange of letters between Messrs. Sharon and Bush, which appeared to tie the permanent existence of the settlement blocks to Israel's Gaza withdrawal Note that Secretary of State Clinton, while a senator, supported Joint Congresional Resolution 460, based on the Sharon-Bush letters, which stated, "Whereas in the April 14, 2004, letter the President stated that in light of new realities on the ground in Israel, including already existing major Israeli population centers, it is unrealistic to expect that the outcome of final status negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians will be a full and complete return to the armistice lines of 1949, but realistic to expect that any final status agreement will only be achieved on the basis of mutually agreed changes that reflect these realities supporting the steps Israel had taken" . Many supporters of the President's policies have pointed to the so-called Palestinian Papers released by Al-Jazeera as evidence that Israel has a partner for peace and only Israel's intransigence prevented an accord. If so, the Administration -- and Mr. Shapiro -- have not explained why they did not press for continuation of that dialoguie, but instead supported a hardening of PA positions by focusing on settlements. Moreover, what many believe was an inept handling of the veto last Friday -- alienating supporters of Israel and the PA -- was consistent with the focus on settlements. Hence, even those supporting Mr. Shaprio, would appeared to be mistaken to think that the President plans to change the broad theme of his Israel-Palestinian approach which places primary responsibility on Israel for resisting the two-state solution.

The perceived ill treatment of Palestinians by Israel is splashed all over Arab satellite news, especially Al Jazeera. As Arab protests and revolutions evolve, foreign policy will at some point become an issue. Egypt has a military that was backed up by the U.S. for years precisely because of the Camp David Accords. That military still reigns. Yet we are in a state of uncertainty in Egypt. Other than the cold peace at Camp David, Israel made no point of making peace with the Egyptian people. Now the Egyptian people are demanding their voices be heard through their government. Opinion polls show Egyptians consider Israel an enemy. Just a slight turn in Egyptian foreign policy could have terrible consequences for Israel. (e.g. Egypt turning a blind eye to weapons smuggling to Hamas, more pressure over Israeli nukes, closer ties with Iran or Syria, restrictions in natural gas etc.) And a totally new foreign policy by Egypt would be a game changer. (Egypt has an army of 500,000 and American technology.) The staus quo in the Arab world was bound to end at some point. However Israel is not strategically prepared for this new dynamic. This is because Israel's foreign policy has been dictated by domestic issues. Other countries would have to take strategic interests into account. But Israel through its lobby and America through its super power status are able to ignore their strategic interests. This becomes a problem for the U.S. and Israel after it is too late. I'm afraid the U.S. is losing influence in the region with its policies. And Israel is totally isolated.

Posted By: The perceived ill treatment of Palestinians by Israel is splashed all over Arab satellite news, espe | February 22, 2011 at 04:59 PM

Historically speaking I can’t think of any other group of people who took the “wrong side” of a war getting so much attention. Hmm, my fondest memory of the Palestinians was when they turned into collaborators after Saddam invaded Kuwait. After the U.S.A. led coalition easily defeated the murderous Iraqi invaders Kuwait expelled all of them. Only Jordan has taken in large numbers, and they too have had way too many problems. As a famous Israeli politician once said about them, and their leadership, “They never miss an opportunity, to miss an opportunity”. He was proved right after idiot evil imp; Yasser Arafat rejected the deal brokered by President Bill Clinton in 2000. It would have given the Palestinians much of what they had wanted after four decades of inaction. Former president Bill Clinton called the late Palestinian leader's move a "colossal error" that led to the election of the hawkish Ariel Sharon as Israel's prime minister and put the peace process back by many years. And as we all are now currently witnessing using Israel as the “whipping boy decoy”, can no longer cover up the massive corruption, ineptness, and murderous repression of many of the current Middle-Eastern, North African oligarchs’, theocrats, and collaborating Islamic mullahs that have exploited, and ruined their own homelands...Once a loser, usually always a loser!

“The gig us up”, as we say here in the good old U.S.A. For many years being at the edges of the high profile crowd I saw how numerous government officials, diplomats, and businessmen from the Middle-East on “official business” used their time to feather their own nests, and party in New York, and California. Being able to buy all those cool, cheap “tax free” gifts for their friends, family, and bleach blonde mistresses, was just an added bonus. Hell, these clowns have diplomatic immunity and have even escaped prosecution after committing serious crimes here; my city is still owned tens of thousands of dollars in unpaid moving, and parking violations. I really can’t even image, or comprehend how much money they and their brother high ranking government rulers have stashed away in “offshore” banking accounts. Where the hack is Wiki Leaks now that we need them? The Roman Empire being the model, keep yourself wealthy, and in power, and give the common folk, “bread, and circuses”. And if anybody opposes you there is always the Coliseum, remember how Uday Saddam punished his countries soccer team after they lost in the Olympics? A few years later the 101st American Airborne would put an end to his perverted privileged life. Soon too many of those that thought they would remain in power forever will land up in the “dust pan of history”. Although we (USA) cannot or even should not overtly add the coming revolution in Iran, it will be more then hearting to see that dissolute, corrupt regime, it ignorant leader, and his supporters driven from power…STAY TUNED!

Lou from NY: The true face of Zionism. Posted By: Matthew…Read and weep, and I’m not Jewish or Israeli! You and your fanatical, reactionary friends will not be able stop the winds of long overdue change that is sweeping the Middle-East, and North Africa. |

Four middle-aged Americans hijacked by Somali pirates off the coast of Oman have been killed by their captors, US defense officials say. The US military said its forces trailing the vessel had responded to gunfire heard aboard but found all the captives shot when they arrived. Oh how brave these little Somali pirates are, wonder how the great Thomas Jefferson would have responded to such an attack. Wonder how Ronald Reagan would have dealt with these cowardly criminals. Are we to believe that our military has no idea where these creeps are launching their boats from? Time for a few live ammo training runs along the Somali coastline, using both aircraft, and ship to shore firepower. And speaking of firepower, just how long will the international community allow the genocide of Libyan citizens to continue and commit themselves to ACTION? Do they think that the U.S.A. alone is going to handle the situation, and save their Euro oil fields, and investments? Talk about “chickens coming home to roast” now its team Obama that is facing the same international apathy that Bush faced as the economic sanctions weakened, and 17 toothless U.N. resolutions allowed Saddam to ignore the terms of the “conditional truce, and cease fire”. Does anybody really think that Madam Hillary Clinton’s threats are really scaring these people? Hard to believe that a man like Teddy Roosevelt was once President of our country, seems like a thousand years ago…

Americans recognize that China is rising while we are sinking. China’s infrastructure, such as high-speed trains and ultra-modern airports, exposes the shabbiness of our falling-down bridges. Of course China is not handicapped as we are by the Israel-Firsters’ domination of our government and media as shown by our veto of the UN resolution condemning Israeli settlements in illegally occupied Arab land. The billions we give in foreign aid to Israel each year are minuscule compared to Israel's overall cost. Historically, due to our support of Israel's illegal brutal occupations, we have suffered acts of revenge such as the Arab oil embargo in the 70's, terrorist attacks on our embassies abroad, etc, leading up to the two attacks on the World Trade Center. The masterminds of both WTC attacks said they were motivated by our sponsorship of Israel. Traditionally the golden recruiting tool of the radicals has been our support of Israel's illegal occupations and persecutions. This is the core issue which swells their ranks and inspires worldwide anti-US terrorism. General David Petraeus in a statement 3/16/10 before the Senate Armed Services Committee said, “The conflict foments anti-American sentiment due to a perception of US favoritism for Israel. Arab anger over the Palestinian question limits the strength and depth of US partnerships with governments and peoples in CENTCOM’s area of operations and weakens the legitimacy of moderate regimes in the Arab World.” The New York Times (6/6/10) reports that in an interview 5/28/10, General David Petraeus stated, "If you don't achieve progress in a just and lasting Mideast peace, the extremists are given a stick to beat us with." The Israel-Firsters have dragged us into all these endless bankrupting wars with the many enemies of Israeli expansionism who are now given even more sticks to beat us with by this UN veto.

Lou, you are an idiot. I want every "pro-American" regime in the ME to fall.
As democracy comes to the ME, ti will be much harder for the US to try to ram Zionism down the Arabs's throats. It's time to choose: America's interests or Israel's. They are not the same. America's long-term interests will benefit from a democractic ME.

Lou should be aware that Saddam's invasion of Kuwait was a trap baited for him. The first Gulf War like the second was unnecessary, and the oil/border dispute could have been prevented by diplomacy. Our ambassadress gave Saddam the impression that it was none of our business and that we would not interfere. After all we’d supported him in the war he started against Iran, in which a million died, and we had even supplied components for WMD. Saddam Hussein had long been a strong supporter of the Palestinians. He provided money to those whose homes were bombed or bulldozed by Israel in retaliation after a member of the extended family had become a suicide bomber (often unknown to the family members). This is why the Israel Lobby neocons wanted him destroyed.
Once in Kuwait, Saddam offered to end his occupation of Kuwait if Israel would end its occupation of Palestine. Instead, we massacred his helpless sitting-duck army which was trapped in the desert trying to retreat from Kuwait. Then we encouraged the Iraqi Shiites to revolt, and Saddam's not unexpected response resulted in the mass graves we discovered after our Iraq invasion. Saddam’s last words before he was hung were "Long live the nation! Long live the people! Long live the Palestinians!" Until the end, he was loyal to the Palestinian cause which had been his undoing.

Lou is also wrong about what happened at Camp David. In July 2000, President Clinton brought Palestinian President Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Barak to Camp David for peace negotiations, but Arafat was not offered a fair deal in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 242 which calls on Israel to withdraw from occupied territory including occupied Arab East Jerusalem which is holy to Muslims. As reported in Clayton Swisher's book "The Truth About Camp David" (p.327), Arafat said "If anyone imagines that I might sign away Jerusalem, he is mistaken. I am not only the leader of the Palestinian people; I am also the vice president of the Islamic Conference." "I am only asking that UN Resolution 242 be implemented. I am speaking only about 22 percent of Palestine, Mr President." "Do you want to come to my funeral? I would rather die than agree to Israeli sovereignty over the Haram al-Sharif." Arafat was tricked into attending the Camp David summit since Israel and the notoriously pro-Israeli-biased US team had no intention of making him a fair offer. Clinton tried to browbeat Arafat into accepting an unjust offer consisting of less land than that to which Palestinians were legally entitled, inadequate control or sovereignty over Arab East Jerusalem and Islamic holy sites, lack of solution to the refugee situation, etc. Arafat heroically stood for justice and refused. The Clinton negotiating team, especially Dennis Ross, was so strongly biased pro-Israel that Palestinian negotiators, such as Nabil Shaath, said Ross is “more Israeli than the Israelis.” Ross has had a long association with the Israel Lobby, such as AIPAC and WINEP. In 1992, speaking to members of San Francisco’s Jewish community, Ross bragged that the Arabs “had not been able to make a formal freezing of settlements a precondition for the holding of talks.” Arafat had specifically asked that Ross not be the US mediator at Camp David due to his strong anti-Arab reputation. Arafat was reluctant to attend, suspecting the usual trickery, but Clinton falsely promised him he would not be blamed if the talks failed. Clinton and Ross of course never made a fair offer and then used the Israel Lobby media to falsely blame Arafat. The talks had made progress, however, and Arafat wrote Clinton a letter asking for negotiations to continue since they were so close to an agreement. Ross pre-empted the request, said no, and went off on his annual family vacation to Israel.

Matthew is an ignorant jew hating slut. "...US to try to ram Zionism down Arabs throats.." ???? Didn't know that anyone was trying to convert Arabs to Judaism...
Israelis want to live in peace. When terrorists stop lobbing bombs into Israel, and recognize their right to exist, there will be peace.

Yasser Arafat is the murderous father of modern terrorism. He was responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent Israeli citizens, unknown numbers of Arabs and the killing of more than 100 U.S. citizens. He was also responsible for the deaths of hundreds after his brave PLO used the citizens of Beirut, Lebanon as human shields after the Israeli army had routed his solders from their entrenched positions. NOW FOR THE REST OF THE STORY---In 1970 the Kremlin became interested in an obscure Arab construction engineer,named Rahman al-Qudwa. Evidence shows, contrary to later claims, that this "construction engineer" was an Egyptian, born in Cairo during the summer of 1929. Rahman graduated from the University of Cairo and served as an officer in the Egyptian Army during the 1956 Suez campaign. Later he set up a business in Kuwait, entered politics, founding a small terrorist organization. Following the fall of the Berlin Wall new information became available…According to the former head of Warsaw Pact, Romanian intelligence, Lt. Gen. Ion Mihai Pacepa, one of the highest ranking communist defectors of all time, Rahman al-Qudwa became an important political ally of the communist bloc following the death of Egypt's president, Gamal Abdul Nasser, in 1970. Gen. Pacepa's account of Rahman's intimate relations with the communist bloc is related in a book entitled "Red Horizons." As it happens, Pacepa tells us that the communists knew that Rahman was a voracious homosexual. This made him a Soviet puppet, because once the Romanian intelligence services had taped Rahman's sex sessions with men and boys, he was completely in their hands. Remember that homosexually is forbidden in Islam. Rahman al-Qudwa became Yasser Arafat, the chairman of the PLO (1968) and the president of the Palestinian Authority until his death. --. According to Gen. Pacepa's account, communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu ordered his people to bring Arafat over to Romania. In late 1970 the chief of Romanian intelligence in Egypt, Gen. Constantine Munteanu, arrived in Bucharest with Arafat in tow. Munteanu had gathered an extensive file on Arafat, which characterized the PLO leader as quote, "so much cleverness, blood, and filth all together in one man." Given Gen. Munteanu's extensive file, Arafat could not exactly refuse the communist's "friendly" overtures. There was no question that Arafat was fanatically devoted to destroying Israel. The compact between Arafat and the openly “GODLESS” Soviet Union via communist Romania was not something that violated any sacred Islamic rule in Arafat's heart. Arafat, like Saddam was not a religious Moslem. His fanaticism was completely secular. Once again fooling the “Arabian street”, he like Saddam after the first Gulf war made himself into a protector and defender of Islam. What should never be forgotten, what liberals always seem to forget, is that Russia was the leading sponsor of international terrorism during the Cold War. Russia trained some of the world’s most notorious terrorists -- from Carlos “the Jackal” to Yasser Arafat. We owe a debt of gratitude to former Romanian intelligence chief Ion Mihai Pacepa for his revelations’ on Arafat’s KGB file. Arafat was trained at the Balashikha special-ops school in Russia. Pacepa also relates how “the KGB destroyed the official records of Arafat’s birth in Cairo, replacing them with fictitious documents saying that he had been born in Jerusalem and was therefore a Palestinian by birth.”Arafat “became a murderous career terrorist, trained, armed and bankrolled by the Soviet Union and its Warsaw pact satellites for decades.”

Israel days are numbered in the middle east.
when pres.Obama was elected, he really wanted to solve the Palestine/Israel problem, he could'nt.
The actual power centers in washington did not let him. AIPAC is big power center. They control just about everything, believe it or not. You name it, they have it covered. As long as AIPAC stays strong, I don't see any resolution of Pal/israeli issue.

It does not really matter who Obama's next ambassador to Israel is, or to anywhere else.
When Obama threw his hat into the Israel lobby last week and carried out his instructions from AIPAC to veto the majority approved UN Security Council resolution condemning Israel's illegal settlements - he threw his presidency out of the window.
He killed his chance of a second term and will now go down in history as the first, black president of the most powerful superstate in the world, who then gave it all away to a small lobby group acting for a foreign state.
You couldn't make it up and as a movie script, no one would read it.

A well written book that exposes the horrors of countries that were forced to join the Soviet Warsaw Pact. And how they (Russia) used these countries to fight against the Democrat West, using their resources to support worldwide TERRORISM...
Red Horizons: The True Story of Nicolae and Elena Ceausescus' Crimes, Lifestyle, and Corruption ...(Paperback)

Philip Giraldi, former military intelligence officer and CIA counter-terrorism specialist, currently Executive Director of the Council for the National Interest, has an excellent article on how the Israel Lobby AIPAC is destroying our country. He notes that if Susan Rice were honest she would have said that we vetoed the UN resolution because of AIPAC: Obama is so afraid of AIPAC he has to ask them permission to go to the bathroom.
http://www.cnionline.org/

Lou is clearly a “birther” who loves to rewrite history for his convenience. Actually, Arafat was a highly revered freedom-fighter bravely opposing Israel's sadistic greedy ethnic-cleansing illegal occupations. As detailed in Clayton E. Swisher's "The Truth About Camp David,” Arafat pleaded with Israeli Prime Minister Barak to prevent Ariel Sharon from parading himself around the Islamic holy sites showing off Israeli sovereignty, since that was sure to provoke violence. (See Swisher, p. 380) Yet Sharon was allowed to strut up to the holy sites and the second intifada was born. It is important to remember that Arafat accepted the 2002 Saudi (Arab League) Peace Plan based on international law and UN Security Council resolutions, whereas Israel still steadfastly rejects it. It’s Israel’s greed which has caused all the deaths and destruction.

The 9:21 AM poster writes, " When terrorists stop lobbing bombs into Israel, and recognize their right to exist, there will be peace." However, the truth is that there have been many ceasefires by the occupation-resisters, but they've all been broken by the bloodthirsty Israelis' targeted assassinations. Issael's right to exist will be recognized when it stops behaving like a monster.

Lou is clearly a “birther” who loves to rewrite history for his convenience. Actually, Arafat was a highly revered freedom-fighter bravely opposing Israel's sadistic greedy ethnic-cleansing illegal occupations…LOU REPLY TO FANATIC, First and foremost never forget that I, LOU am your enemy, and to all those who want to destroy the democratic Western World, elected representative government, free speech, and assembly, and free enterprise. And along with our insightful United States Constitution, I also support the United Nations Covenant on HUMAN RIGHTS passed in 1948 following the horrific, death, and destruction following World War Two. A basic human rights document that not one Arabian country ever signed to abided by. Unlike our great, insightful, American polymaths forming a new concept of government centuries ago, Egypt does not have to look to far in order to construct a decent outstanding new Constitution that will be a model for the rest of the Middle-East. It is our Western world that has the most experience in the practice, and pitfalls of democratic government, pluralism, and governing by majority but with respect to the minority viewpoint. It is only our system of judicial law that presumes innocence over guilt in any and all civic and criminal law. How laughable, and pathetic to think that anybody would use either Russia, or China as their models for the future of our planet. P.S. “BIRTHER” is not a word, and secondly its apparent that you hate the United States, and most of “dar al Harb”, so maybe you should think about going back to the country of your heritage…Arafat was a murderous terrorist, supported by the Soviet Bloc, born in Egypt, and who was a follower of the strange school teachers, Sayyid Qutb, and fanatical Hassan al Banna, founders of the Muslim Brotherhood both who supported NAZI GERMANY during World War Two!

Lou, you are an idiot. I want every "pro-American" regime in the ME to fall. As democracy comes to the ME, it will be much harder for the US to try to ram Zionism down the Arabs’ throats. It's time to choose: America's interests or Israel's. They are not the same. America's long-term interests will benefit from a democractic ME. ---Posted By: Matthew …LOU REPLY: Another slur Batty, how boring. But at least we now know how anti-American you really are! Anyway I want every anti-American regime, especially those supported by the repressive police states of Russia, and China to collapse. You know like Syria, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, Myanmar, Venezuela, and the Sudan. And let’s not forget who destroyed Somalia, the commie, Soviet trained dictator Said Barre. And speaking of a democracy, Israel is the only truly democratic state in the region with 5 (FIVE) political parties. Interesting considering how much time, money, and effort liberals, and their media lackeys have been spending trying to destroy almost every third party challenge that has arisen here in the last four decades, including liberal Ralph Nader! And exactly why would a country that is over 90 percent CHRISTIAN want to promote, or impose the Jewish faith or Zionism on anybody? Another totally illogical, propagandistic post coming from a loony leftist or Islamic fascist.

Gen. Pacepa's account of Rahman's
( YassirArafat's) intimate relations with the communist bloc is related in a book entitled "Red Horizons." As it happens, Pacepa tells us that the communists knew that Rahman was a voracious homosexual. This made him a Soviet puppet, because once the Romanian intelligence services had taped Rahman's sex sessions with men and boys, he was completely in their hands. Remember that homosexually is forbidden in Islam. Rahman al-Qudwa became Yasser Arafat, the chairman of the PLO (1968) and the president of the Palestinian Authority until his death. --. According to Gen. Pacepa's account, infamous communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu ordered his people to bring Arafat over to Romania. In late 1970 the chief of Romanian intelligence in Egypt, Gen. Constantine Munteanu, arrived in Bucharest with Arafat in tow. Munteanu had gathered an extensive file on Arafat, which characterized the PLO leader as quote, "so much cleverness, blood, and filth all together in one man."

I am glad Dan is going back where he came from. He will cozy up with all his buddies including Dennis Ross. Dennis Ross really is big earner in this mid east peace game. he has made a living out of it.
lately I heard that he wanted to replace Israel/Pal issue with Iran/israel issue. Anything is possible in washington. You can change day inro a night and night into a day.

Congrats to Shapiro. No matter, won't make the mistake again of voting for Obama, the latest fiasco Obama's impression to the world over the latest UN vote. It's clear his lifelong survival technique including the political is ingratiation to enemies and haughtiness toward friends. Nice guy our President!!

Lou, you throw around the terms democracy and freedom loosely. Israel is no democracy. Israel is a Jewish terror state specializing in ethnic cleansing, bombing civilians, and apartheid. Israel’s apartheid conditions are not limited to the West Bank. Take the city of Lod, 10 miles from Tel Aviv. As reported in The Economist 10/16/10, the Israelis bulldozed Lod’s old Arab city in 1948 and now have erected a wall to separate the city’s 45,000 Jews and 20,000 Arabs. Jewish areas in Lod are expanding and have all the amenities whereas the Arab areas, which are cordoned off to prevent expansion, lack street lighting, rubbish collection, and feature sewage running in the streets. Such is the Jewish State, which goes to show one can’t be both a Jewish state and a democracy. And considering our politicians are nothing but Israel Lobby whores, our so-called democracy is nothing to brag about. After Obama over and over has voiced his opposition to the illegal Jewish settlements on stolen Arab land, he is ordered by his Zionist master AIPAC to veto the UN resolution which restates what he's been stating all along.

"So much cleverness, blood, and filth all together in one man."--- What a brilliant description of recently departed Yasser Arafat, also perfectly describes Saddam Hussein, along with the current leadership of Iran, Syria, Libya, North Korea, the Sudan, al Qaeda, Hezbollah, and the Hamas. It appears that many of the young people of the Middle-East now are familiar with America’s great patriot Thomas Jefferson’s statement that, “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots, and tyrants”. Hopefully we will have the insight, and guts to help them in their struggle for democracy, and freedom when the time arises. And hopefully they will not establish governments that are but a “mirror reflection” of the ones that they collapse.

It must be recalled that among bin Laden’s original gripes against us, (in addition to our subsidizing Israel’s perverse occupations, the presence of our troops in the holy places of Saudi Arabia, and our support of the deadly sanctions on the Iraqi people), was our support of corrupt Arab dictatorships. We supported Mubarak because he helped Israel sadistically keep the Gazans penned in. The anti-Mubarak protesters carried signs of Mubarak with the Star of David across his face. Also, as reported by the AP 2/1, hanging from traffic lights in Tahrir Square were effigies of Mubarak, on whose faces were the Star of David. At the same time thugs justified their beating of journalists by claiming that they were Israeli spies trying to destabilize the country. Lara Logan suffered sustained sexual assault by those yelling “Jew, Jew.”

“Such is the Jewish State, which goes to show one can’t be both a Jewish state and a democracy”. Posted by Fanatic...LOU REPLY: You have one again intentionally distorted the facts concerning the Israeli judicial system. In truth it is composed of both secular and religious courts. The law courts being an independent and separate part of the Ministry of Justice. Only one Islamic country has a secular legal system, that country being TURKEY! The rest of the Arabian and Persian judicial systems are based on Shia (Islamic) law which makes all non-Muslims into second class citizens living under the de facto rulings of the Islamic religion. And do please tell us how many Israeli dissidents have been arrested, tortured, and murdered in Israel in the last decade versus the repressive regimes of countries of Iran, Syria, and Libya. And speaking of who traditionally owns the lands of that area, it should be remembered that the first really enlightened monotheistic religion, whose writings are respected, and adhered to by both Christians, and Islamic people was written by the Jews, including the Ten Commandants were written 5,000 years ago. The Christians, most of whom were originally Jewish followed, established their religion over 2,000 years ago, Mohammed was born in the 7th Century, and is the youngest religion in the area. So how is it possible that Islam, which promotes itself as the “religion of peace” has an average population of Christians, and Jews of less than 3 percent? How does one make sense of the bloody Sunni/Shia conflict which has lasted for centuries and what about the murderous 18 year old civil war in Lebanon that involved Sunni/Shea Muslims, Christian’s, and Jews? Not to mention the outright de facto colonization of that country by both Syria, and Iran, using both political and military influence. Concerning the Palestinians once again it should never be forgotten that they themselves made their choice in 1948, allied themselves with the Arab League, and lost their war with Israel shortly following the official establishment of that country by the UNITED NATIONS, with the support of Western Europe, the United States, and Soviet Union. Interesting on how phobic Arabian Muslims are about a country the size of New Jersey, with only 8 million people. And having the gall to claim Jerusalem a city built by Jewish King David, despite that the fact that there is absolutely no historical fact to prove the assertion that the Prophet Muhammad ever visited that city. But it won’t be the first time that Muslims have forcefully acquired property that did not belong to them or their religion, the beautiful Hagia Sofia, one of the most beautiful structures in Istanbul was a Christian Church before it was converted into a Mosque. Thankfully it has now been converted into a museum, reflecting its true history.

Alarm bells! Ching ching ching ... You write that Shapiro was ' engaged in every aspect of the Obama Administration's Middle East policy'? Oops - by almost all accounts, it has been a spectacular failure.

Latest News: Once again Conservatives might be proved right, again! ---Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi personally ordered the Lockerbie bombing in 1988, former justice minister - Mustapha Abdeljalil told Swedish daily Expressen, the paper reported on its website Wednesday.
"I have proof that Gaddafi gave the order on Lockerbie," said the minister, who stepped down Monday to protest the ongoing violence in Libya.
Libyan national Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi was convicted of the bombing of Pan AM Flight 103 over the Scottish town of Lockerbie on December 21, 1988 that killed 270 people, most of them America... Anybody but me remember how upset the American/European leftists, and liberals after Reagan ordered the bombing of Tripoli, after the terrorist attack against our people in Germany.
Once again, the loony, self hating left, with poop on their faces!

Pres. Carter was the only president in the recent history who did not care whether he gets the second term not. Go and see how much he got accomplished. Pres. Obama of course is very much interested in the second term and that is the reason he is playing this balancing act to keep everybody happy, especially AIPAC . AIPAC is the only thing he needs for reelection. these days you will see AIPAC
members wined and dined in the white house and they in turn go out and manage his reelection compaign.

Lou from NY: Unconstrained by logic, defeated by the declarative sentence.
BTW, paragraph breaks and fewer references to the long-departed Soviet Union might make you more persuasive. As it is, I seriously wonder how much of your own hair you must eat while posting.

Lou the Lunatic throws in the kitchen sink in his effort to distract us from the main point which is that our support of Israel's illegal occupations is destroying our country with bankrupting unnecessary wars. Reagan's 1986 bombing of Libya has been roundly criticized and also condemned at the UN because it was outside international law and lowered the US to the level of "Blood for Blood" terrorism. We killed 15 civilians including Gaddafi's 15-month daughter as we bombed his residence. Lovely. I'm sure Lou loved it because it's straight out of the Israeli instruction manual. Lou says Arafat was the father of terrorism but Israel was actually born out of terrorism. Notorious Jewish terror groups such as the Irgun and the Stern Gang attacked the British as well as the native Palestinians who had lived there for thousands of years. The Jews made it clear they wanted all of Palestine for themselves. In 1946 the Irgun bombed the King David Hotel in Jerusalem killing 91. The Stern Gang assassinated Count Folke Bernadotte, the Swedish UN mediator, in 1948. The Irgun and the Stern Gang played major roles in the 1948 terrorist ethnic cleansing of Arab civilians, as is well-documented, village-by-village, in the book "The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine" by renowned Israeli historian Ilan Pappe. In 1917 British Foreign Secretary Arthur J. Balfour had declared that Britain supported the establishment of a national home for the Jews in Palestine. At that time there were 56,000 Jews and 600,000 Arabs living in Palestine. (See Avi Shlaim's book "The Iron Wall"). The Balfour Declaration emphasized, "it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine." However Zionist leader David Ben-Gurion had other ideas. By 1947 Jews only owned 5.8% of the land in Palestine. Greedy for more, Zionist leader David Ben-Gurion and ten others established an ethnic cleansing cabal, known as the Consultancy, which devised a "Plan Dalet" in March 1948 to systematically eliminate the Palestinian Arabs through terrorism, mass murder, and expulsion. (Pappe's "The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine") The Jewish terrorist groups played a major role in this plan which involved bombarding Arab villages and villagers, burning and demolishing homes, planting mines, carrying out massacres, mass murder of innocent civilians, torture, throwing bombs into crowds, shooting villagers in their beds at night, blowing up inhabited houses at night, destroying crops, olive groves, citrus groves, etc. The idea was not only to terrorize the population but also to incite a desire for retaliation so as to provide an excuse for even greater violence in a situation characterized by a huge mismatch of power. They were highly successful, killing thousands and creating 800,000 Arab refugees in the first six months alone. This included the massacre of the Arab village of Deir Yassin in which thirty babies were slaughtered while their mothers were raped and killed, along with many others. The massacre was proudly advertised by the Jewish leadership in order to sow terror and induce other Arabs to flee. The leader of the Stern Gang was future Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, and future Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin commanded the Irgun.

Lou, How about the terrorist attack against an Iranian passenger plane by us. Let us put things in perspective and let people decide for themselves. Iranian victims did not even get compensated. -- Posted By: neocon | February 23, 2011 at 06:03 PM… LOU TAKES ON TWO JERKS REPLY: Are we to believe that the Iranian government didn’t send this unidentified aircraft flying into airspace that would appear to threaten our United States Navy by mistake? Should our navy have had taken the chance after the Iraqi navy had “accidently launched” a French Exocet missile at the USS Stark that killed 37 American sailors. Let’s remember that this action came from the same country that forcibly took their own young men off the streets, in order to draft them for suicidal wave attacks against well entrenched Iraqi positions during that eight year war. We (USA) had already blown up a couple of their offshore oil rigs, and had sunk several speedboats that vainly attempted to attack our navy. Despite liberal opposition, President Reagan demanded that the Persian Gulf would remain open to commercial shipping whether the creepy Iranian government liked it or not. And that’s exactly what he did, no apologies’ are necessary. It should be a reminder that continued Iranian support of terrorism, and support for our enemies might someday have severe consequences, for both their military, and citizens.
• Lou from NY: Unconstrained by logic, defeated by the declarative sentence. BTW, paragraph breaks and fewer references to the long-departed Soviet Union might make you more persuasive. As it is, I seriously wonder how much of your own hair you must eat while posting. Posted By: Matthew | February 23, 2011 at 06:12 PM… LOU REPLY: Oh yah seems that everybody but you seems to know that Putin has reversed almost all of the democratic reforms that occurred in Russia. So the KBG has become the FSB, big deal! And factually speaking countries that have aligned themselves with the Russians always seem to have bad endings. Angola, Somalia, and Ethiopia, and Iraq being just a couple of recent examples, along with the defections of Hungary, Poland, and Czech-Slovak Republic’s from the Warsaw Pact, to N.A.T.O. as soon as the Russians withdrew. Hell they can’t even get along with their Christian neighbors in Georgia, let alone their Muslim population in Chechnya, and Dagestan. And quite frankly speaking no too many people in Brooklyn and Queens, New York City think too fondly of them either. Russians immigrants are like ugly Americans on steroids, arrogant, loud, rude, crude, self-centered, and aggressive jerks. Yet another example of our failed immigration policies…

Notice when all else fails, and their lame, illogical arguments, and historical distortions fail to convince, and ring untrue; the last resort is always the slanderous attack. Big deal, as I know that most of these fanatical ill-bred losers are themselves nothing but frustrated malcontents’ whose viewpoints on America are a glass half empty, just as are their own personal life’s. Won’t be posting tomorrow, I am going off to a well deserved Ski vacation with my sweetie. And to think that this self made guy from a tough hood in New York City would be so damn successful, and a bit lucky makes me thank GOD that I live in the best nation that has ever been created by mankind. That would be the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
Hopefully by the time I get back one more murderous Arabian dictator, and his sons will have met their ends...

Lou you profess that you're glad to be an American, but if so you should recognize how America is going down the tubes due to our association with the criminal state of Israel. After World War II, in order to prevent more world wars started by Nazi-like invasions and occupations, countries of the world came together to form the United Nations "to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war,” i.e. to suppress acts of aggression, settling disputes by peaceful means in accordance with international law. Israel is in violation of international law and UN Security Council resolutions due to its illegal invasions and occupations. For instance, UN Security Council Resolution 242 calls on Israel to end its occupations because the acquisition of territory by war is inadmissible. For this reason 57 countries (about a third of the UN) do not recognize Israel. Furthermore, Jewish settlements in occupied Arab land violate the Fourth Geneva Convention which forbids an occupying power from transferring any parts of its civilian population into territories seized by military force. The New York Times 2/19/11 reported that more than 100 countries co-sponsored a UN resolution condemning Israeli settlements as illegal and calling for a halt to settlement building. The UN Security Council’s president Brazil pointed out that settlement construction is a continuing threat to peace, and international law requires that it be stopped. The European Union, which also supported the resolution, noted that settlement-building threatens the goal of a two-state solution. The 15-member UN National Security Council voted 14-1 to condemn Israeli settlements. The US, which like Palestine is occupied by Zionists, was the only vote pro-Israeli settlements. This is why we're subjected to "Blood for Blood" revenge attacks like 9/11 and why we're dragged by the Israel Lobby into all these bankrupting wars against the innumerable enemies of Israeli expansionism.

It is in Israel's interests to never allow a million-man march of Muslims on Jerusalem or 4 million unemployed angry young radicalized Arabs from Gaza, Jordan, Syria or Lebanon to enter the West Bank. Strange enough, it is not in the West Bank Palestinians' interests to let refugee descendants into the West Bank either. Hence no negotiations.

Dan, if Israel is smart they will accept peace now. The Wikileaks-inspired revolutions have created serious dangers for Israel. WikiLeaks documented the duplicity,corruption and rapacious greed of leaders in countries such as Egypt which collaborated with Israel. It must be recalled that among bin Laden’s original gripes against us, (in addition to our subsidizing Israel’s perverse occupations, the presence of our troops in the holy places of Saudi Arabia, and our support of the deadly sanctions on the Iraqi people), was our support of corrupt Arab dictatorships. We supported Mubarak because he helped Israel keep the Gazans penned in. The anti-Mubarak protesters carried signs of Mubarak with the Star of David across his face. Also, as reported by the AP 2/1, hanging from traffic lights in Tahrir Square were effigies of Mubarak, on whose faces were the Star of David. At the same time thugs justified their beating of journalists by claiming that they were Israeli spies trying to destabilize the country. Lara Logan suffered sustained sexual assault by those yelling “Jew, Jew.” Wikileaks also showed Arab leaders collaborating with Israel, even backing an attack against Iran. As noted in the NY Times 11/29/10, Arab leaders whispered these US/Israel-pleasing comments to us which they dared not speak openly “for fear of a domestic uproar.” Even rich US-backed despots must watch out for the Arab street. Certainly the Bush neocons were trying to enlist the Arab leaders against Iran, and this was quite evident at Annapolis. However, the unifying force in the Arab/Muslim world has been its opposition to Israel’s sadistic illegal occupations. Encouraging the US/Israeli alliance to attack a Muslim state for the benefit of Israel is not a popular stance on the Arab street. One good thing about the WikiLeaks like the Pentagon Papers is that leaders should not be two-faced because the truth will come out. Foreign leaders have said one thing to please US officials and quite a different thing to their public. Now that Mubarak is gone, Iranian warships can sail up the Suez into the Mediterranean Sea.